Paper Bridges: Selected Poems of Kadya Molodowsky

Leavetaking

Leavetaking It's been so long since I've written a line, My heart's flame is starting to die down. Thanks for the past favors, For the gentle alphabet, For a poem's consolation, For the fiddle of a rhyme. The heart's last sparks are gathered To warm up the chill, Light glimpsed in utter dark. Bearing no grudge, each day I wait for The wind to shake the pen from my hand. Who knows? Perhaps I've not always cherished naively That purity of flame. Who knows? Perhaps, I've recited the wine's blessing Over a cup of poison. I am blind with grief. I can no longer see the mountains. I don't believe in gleaming peaks. And the road over theflatlandsis for a fool Who will never arrive At light or lightning's cave. Night takes over more and more. The darkness is as deep As the sheath of eternal sleep. Thanks for the past favors, For the bright beginnings And cloudy endings. 375 w s rx'o ,Dsnx§ Tyvxtf? "i^i pynx -p Djrrnn oy nrmx H -^K pa aKn'D D^ nyeiyn fiyn K1 ?^ ,ia a ,DIIX 7a | ^ i n oxn .*p$ x t^^a n m ms rra-^x Djn 7T *>v\ vo ^jnVD nxa ,pr •7-n i^is pxy1 ? ojn T'x lira pa 1943 376 Burned through, The last thread swings away, Letters crumble, And words pale. Thanks, thanks For the past favors. I've forgotten my alphabet in sorrow. The heys distorted, the kheses dulled, I no longer discern their sense.165 Never mind, that words are not finished. After me, someone will come and complete The very word, where I choked. Someone will redeem the anguish of sign-language.166 A youth with an easier pen will illuminate The darkness of my angry chasm. The mute and straying figures That encircle me and hold my breath Will be decreed to him and his revived vision.167 I hear his jaunty footsteps, unrestrained. He will redeem the pledges that I pawned, And add his verses, writing as he whistles. Then I'll remember the alphabet again, I'll be in Paradise, but I'll still recognize My melody in its last, full ripeness. 1943 377 ,Ta is Vm§ x H tra tssx^pyi px ps nyaty^p ly&ia ^rs-Vns , p x Dip ny :tex TH IKD lyoKn fix ^xa win nxn ^x •onyyi VT ,DOXI pa m ,piK mp innxD^ DXT px py^ DXT p^a nmx fx; D|is oy^n^mss ]yaipy^ T^X f xp x fix p i x Dip - ^ x DDIT^XS DyTyi ayi ^xa px D^ nxn 7X a > J ? T ,pnx Dip raix T^X; D ,]yaipy: rx r x x px ,]yx*?p H D^a osx^py^ •ranpyi nyanyn H D^a ^Tiya ysmp ^ra-brs ,pnx Dip m x 1x5 Dyn pa t?Dxa w^n ra ^nyyi VT ,DDX^ pa VT ^p y^xi y^ia^a x pw a n JIK rx; o TD pa va D^yDt^y^ yi ,]yaipy^ rx t2;t:aya xr ?Dixn TK nyoya x D^ DD^XID n ^ ?iBD a nyn - ?i:x-in x Doy?1 ?^ n ^ ?t?xinxs DOJT-^ n ^ xDay^pixs fix Dpxnnxs ^OXV^IXD axn'D T » H ]ix s S DXI 378 ...